One is afraid of the enemy and is timid, even "getting sick" to avoid going to war, while the other goes forward bravely and lives to the death for the sake of the empire.
Make a decision.
It can be seen that once the situation in Chang'an changes suddenly, Fang Jun can naturally stick to his duties and safeguard the center of the country, while Chai Zhewei is fickle and fickle, and it is difficult to stand firm...
His Majesty Li Er was angry and couldn't help but cursed: "Shameless boy, like father, like son!"
When the Li family raised troops in Jinyang, Princess Pingyang and her husband Chai Shao were still in Chang'an. As a result, Chai Shao heard that the court wanted to arrest his wife and was so frightened that he abandoned Princess Pingyang and fled to Jinyang, making Princess Pingyang desperate and angry.
Husband and wife turn against each other and their friendship is severed.
His Majesty Li Er is deeply disgusted with Chai Shao's bad behavior.
Nowadays, Chai Zhe is fearful of the enemy, cowardly, greedy for life and afraid of death, and has abandoned the country and the country without any responsibility. His essence is the same as that of his father back then.
I was also confused. How could such a cowardly and incompetent person be placed in such an important position as guarding Xuanwu Gate in the first place?
Thinking of this, I was horrified.
Now Fang Jun has no choice but to lead half of the right garrison out of Hexi to meet the enemy, and only Chai Zhewei's left garrison is left in the Xuanwu Gate. If this coward is afraid of being punished later on in the Eastern Expedition, so he is worried and anxious all day long, he might as well wait until
The situation in the DPRK has changed, and it has changed its course...
His Majesty Li Er became more and more worried, and immediately said: "Tomorrow, Maogong, you will personally formulate a plan to attack the city, and form my imperial guards into a supervising team. You will sit in the rear and command it personally. If there is anyone who is afraid of the enemy and cannot go forward, he will be killed without mercy! No matter what!
How about, capture Anshi City quickly, without any further delay!"
The battle in Liaodong made him anxious, and the changes in Chang'an made him even more panicked. In any case, the battle in Liaodong must end as soon as possible. If it continues as it is now, unforeseen consequences may occur.
From the change in His Majesty Li Er's expression, Li Ji could already guess what he was worried about, and he felt a little uneasy in his heart. Who would have thought that the situation in Chang'an would change so much just a few months after the expedition? It's really shocking.
Caught off guard.
Immediately he said: "Your Majesty, don't worry. Although Anshi City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the three armies have to work hard and the enemy cannot stop it."
His Majesty Li Er nodded and signaled for Li Ji to drink tea. He also picked up the tea cup and took a sip, then sighed softly and said: "Goguryeo seems to have barren land, bitter cold climate, and insufficient national strength, but there are hundreds of thousands of people in the country who dare to fight.
Scholars should not be underestimated. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty failed to achieve success in his three expeditions. At the beginning, we ridiculed him for not knowing anything about military affairs and only knowing how to engage in military warfare. This resulted in the burial of countless Han family members in Liaodong, and even shook the foundation of the country.
Until the country was destroyed. Now that I am on the scene, I realize that Goguryeo is tenacious like never before, and its army is even more powerful. If you want to conquer it, it will definitely cost a huge price."
The statistics before the war were too optimistic.
Both the government and the public agreed that the reason why Emperor Sui Yang's three expeditions to Goguryeo failed in vain was that, in addition to Emperor Sui Yang's random command and insufficient combat power of the Sui army, the main reason was that the domestic political situation at that time was turbulent and there were too many constraints, which resulted in the failure of the army.
They went all out, and even encountered problems with insufficient supplies of baggage and equipment many times, which seriously hindered the army.
The Tang Dynasty was prosperous, abundant in supplies, and had a naval force several times larger than that of the Sui Dynasty, responsible for quickly transporting supplies through waterways. The morale of hundreds of thousands of troops was high and supplies were abundant. The attack on Goguryeo was naturally a matter of course and effortless.
Only Fang Jun repeatedly emphasized that the enemy should not be underestimated, that Goguryeo's combat power should be given full attention, and that all the power of the Tang Dynasty should be mobilized to give it a fatal blow...
As a result, the facts turned out to be as Fang Jun said, Goguryeo was not a soft persimmon.
Not only is he not a soft persimmon, he is actually a prickly hedgehog...
His Majesty Li Er thought for a while and asked: "If we order the navy to cross the sea, reach the mouth of the Xishui River, and then go up the river to attack Pingrang City, it will be difficult for Goguryeo to look at both ends, and we will have to focus on Pingrang City.
On the guard, what do you think Mao Gong does?"
This was originally the strategy proposed by Fang Jun before. A two-pronged approach made Goguryeo lose sight of the other. It was opposed by both the government and the public at first, because no one wanted the Navy to continue to gain military glory during the Eastern Expedition and make it bigger and bigger.
But now, His Majesty Li Er doesn't care so much anymore.
Because the delay in the war gave him some ominous premonitions, what if Liaodong failed to reach Pingrang City and overthrew Goguryeo, but something big happened suddenly in Chang'an?
But now that the war situation is unfavorable, he cannot go his own way and issue orders directly to the navy. If all the forces in the army feel that their military glory has been robbed by the navy again, they are afraid that they will get into trouble. Once war-weariness arises in the army,
Emotions, the difficulty of the Eastern Expedition will increase exponentially.
The more I thought about it, the more angry I became. As an emperor, the supreme king in the world, but he couldn't even completely control his own army. The existence of aristocratic families was really hateful.
Naturally, he became more and more determined to suppress the power of the clan.
Li Ji pondered for a moment and did not answer His Majesty Li Er's question. Instead, he asked: "What if the navy directly captures Pingrang City?"
His Majesty Li Er was immediately stunned.
Capture Pingrang City? At first thought, it may be nonsense. Anshi City can cause hundreds of thousands of troops to hit their heads and bleed with blood. The attack has failed for two consecutive months. How can the Navy capture it with such a small force? It must be
Pingrang Castle guarded by a large army?
However, thinking of the result that the navy was ordered to attack Bisha City before, and the entire mountain city was burned to death, His Majesty Li Er felt that Pingrang City might not be captured.
It is naturally unrealistic to rely on the navy to annihilate the more than 100,000 elite Goguryeo troops and allied forces of various ethnic groups who protect Pingrang City. However, the navy has strong combat power and has sharp weapons such as artillery and fire bombs. Pingrang City can
On the bank of the Xishui River, the navy went upstream to the city of Pyongyang, bombarded it with random cannons, and then launched fire bombs that could burn the stones. The city of Pyongyang might be reduced to ruins.
The Goguryeo army could only withdraw from Pingrang City...
Once the Navy achieves such a result, how will the merit be calculated?
Our side violently attacked Anshi City but failed, losing troops and generals. However, the navy easily burned Pingrang City to ashes, severely damaging the morale and morale of Goguryeo's military...
Various forces in the military may be jealous and want to rebel.
His Majesty Li Er had a splitting headache and said angrily: "I am the emperor and the king of a country, but I still have to be restrained at every turn. No one in my army sincerely fights for the empire. Each and every one of them only knows that they have a family and are selfish.
All deserve to die!"
This is evident from this.
As long as he really lets the navy capture Pingrang City, all forces in the army will definitely be passive and war-weary, and then use practical actions to tell this emperor - don't you trust the navy? Okay, we are incompetent, let the navy
Let's go fight...
This situation is not unfounded, but is actually possible.
In the eyes of those wealthy disciples, they have no fear of imperial power. Even if His Majesty Li Er is so powerful that he dares to kill those who disobey orders, the others will not flinch.
You are the one who said that we are not good enough and can’t defeat others, so why should we be blamed?
You can't kill us all...
Li Ji said in a deep voice: "Who in the world is dissatisfied with His Majesty's talent and strategy? The concentration of imperial power is bound to touch the interests of too many people. All we can do is wait for the victory of the Eastern Expedition before making plans, otherwise public opinion will be fierce.
, it’s too detrimental to this battle.”
The family has a deep foundation, so if you want to deal with it with a tough attitude, it will definitely not work.
We can only rely on this Eastern Expedition to allow each family to gain enough benefits. After returning to Beijing, we will reward each other according to their merits, and reward each high-ranking official one by one, so that each family will feel that they have no worries and can truly "cooperate with the country".
Only then will they not be so resistant to the emperor's resumption of power, let alone break the pot.
When a person eats and his mouth is full of oil, it is difficult to have the courage to fight...
His Majesty Li Er was still angry. He took a sip of tea and slammed the tea cup on the table.
…
Li Ji bid farewell to the emperor and returned to his camp. He summoned all the generals in the army overnight to discuss how to break the city.
Since His Majesty Li Er has issued the order to "break the city at any cost", it is not difficult for a famous general like Li Ji with extremely high tactical literacy to formulate a plan to break the city. In the end, Anshi City is just
It is an isolated city. The number of troops in the city is limited, and the road to support has been cut off by the Tang army. The troops with several times superiority are forced to attack an isolated city without support regardless of casualties. If it cannot be done again, then everyone can clean their necks and draw swords to kill themselves.